The State of School Gardens as a Basic Educational Right?

[Greg Ellis]

Dear school gardeners,

Whatever state you're in, name the top 3 organization's/individuals working at local, state and and federal levels to dedicate tax funds to school gardens!

As a fundraiser and former director of a SGSO, I keep getting the feeling that I'm chasing crumbs instead of looking for a seat at the table--one we all know that school gardens deserve.  Through the ongoing work of so many grassroots efforts that ya'll are growing, school gardens are on the verge of becoming a majority experience in many places (about 1/2 of students in our county have access to gardens).  I'd like to personally spend more time supporting efforts at higher levels to translate this grassroots energy into policy to ensure funding for garden-based education, and want to know whose already making it happen.  I already have some leads in CA w/ FoodCorps, LifeLab, CA Farm to School Network Center for Ecoliteracy, Ten Strands, but specific contacts and introductions are appreciated.

The analogy that I find most compelling is that of school libraries.  There was a time when school libraries were unusual (their expansion story is fascinating, and I think school gardens could travel a similar path).  Our society ultimately valued literacy, and so now 95% of public schools have libraries.  The garden provides equal value for science, health and wellness, and with over 50 years of research and practice, a widespread, knowledgeable and dedicated field of practitioners and advocates, we in CA have nearly a critical mass of political will and more than enough evidence and models to make it a fundamental part of education.

I also have been looking at the numbers, which are still rough, but equally compelling.  For perspective, $144M would fund $24,000 per year at all ~6000 public elementary schools in CA--not an immediate goal, but a worthy long-term one to scale towards.  I believe this is a realistic figure in a state that spends $300B (state and local gov't combined spending) between Education, Healthcare and Welfare spending.  For more perspective, that's just $5 for every $10,000 in tax dollars spent in these categories.  And I think there are compelling arguments in each category that garden-based education pays for itself by reducing welfare and health spending through improved health outcomes (the program would only need to prevent ~1440 cases of obesity/year across the entire population) and, increases tax revenue through increased student earning power based on greater educational attainment.  It's a mess of numbers right now, but I think the right story is there to be refined, marketed, mixed with real-life stories of hope, and put before the right decision-makers (be it politicians or a public vote).

I'm really curious to hear grounding thoughts, past tales of attempts along these lines, and stories of success or hope!

Greg Ellis

OneCoolEarth.org

www.facebook.com/onecoolearth

[Dawn Cleaves]

Funny, just yesterday I wrote an email asking for the school district to create a Garden Coordinator position that was funded in part by the Maintenance department and in part by curriculum. I am currently a Garden Coordinator for the district, but I'm in the Grants department. Which in my opinion is unsustainable and doesn't have the right connections. 

Last year I critiqued garden grants for providing funding for stuff but not for the people to do something with the stuff. They also each have different objectives and different hoops to jump through. Their objectives, while noble don't align with state education mandates. So anytime you spend on the grant objectives teachers are loosing time meeting the state mandates. Health and nutrition are not directly in the curriculum for every grade level. The only schools that can spare this kind of time are the wealthy schools whose kids already score higher on standardized tests. This means it's difficult to get garden programs into the schools and to the kids that really need it. 

The program I'm looking at has the teachers teaching their grade and curriculum specific lessons in the garden. Leadership and support is provided by the garden coordinator and gardens develope slowly. No "Big Dig", " Here's an unsustainable garden you have no idea how to care for." The slow growth model is $3000-$6000 per school for leadership and then $500 for maintenance materials. $1000 for new garden installations. The goal is for the leadership to be from within the district and use the garden to support the existing curriculum goals. Not add more to the alreadly long list of what teachers have to do. 

The goal is win win. Maintenance gets help from volunteers and students by converting landscaping to micro habitats. Other area's are taken out of their responsibility total and some area's are turned in to wild flower area's that are lower maintenance than what they were previously doing. There's also efficiencies to be gained by cooperating with maintenance. Curriculum wins by being able to show real life habitats and life cycles. Concepts are no longer pictures in books and on videos they are concrete all around their school. 

Big garden grant people. Please listen to the schools and what they need. Giving a garden is like giving a puppy. If you don't have time to care for and train it, it can destroy your house.

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Dawn Cleaves

214.500.2063

[Jezra Thompson]

Happy to share our story, shown here (thank you Praxis Project!)

We are a district wide and integrated program within ed services department. Please see our website with reports and free for download curriculum.  

Jezra Thompson, MS

Supervisor, Gardening & Cooking Programs 

Berkeley Unified School District 

510-486-9350

We're affecting change in our community with improved health for students and families! Learn more about our District-wide garden-based and nutrition education, where you can review our Program Annual Reports, download curriculum, and check out the Berkeley High School student video that captures the heart of what we do. 

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[Amy Bowman]

Dawn,

I whole heartedly agree!  I have been working the past three years to train teachers in our area how to integrate their curriculum into the garden classroom.  We do not have many garden coordinators in our state so all of the responsibility of the gardens fall on the teachers.  They need to start small and grow it as they become more comfortable and confident.  Many teachers do shy away from the grants because it does not meet their curriculum needs, but the teachers really come alive during our PD sessions when they see the potential the garden has to connect to their curriculum. Teachers also have a hard time buying into the garden when it is not being supported from the district. I would love to hear more about the program you mentioned.

Amy

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Amy Bowman

Extension Associate

STEM Education

Plants For Human Health Institute

North Carolina Research Campus
704-250-5475

 asbo...@ncsu.edu

"All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties."

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[christopher burroughs]

I think you all are right on topic. I can't say that I have anything enlightening to offer as I have just begun working with a nonprofit school garden organization, but I am learning the ropes and seeing the challenges. A paid garden coordinator position for each school would help a lot. Also more support at the state, and district level would allow teachers to feel easier about instructing from the garden using standards based lessons. I have talked to so many teachers who work in schools with gardens and say that only lone grade level uses the garden or the classes get to the garden only once per week.We are currently looking for someone to assist us with curriculum development based on the curriculum that is already out there, so if you know of anybody please give me a holla. Vegolution!!!

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[Ullery, Sam (OSSE)]

Hi All, This thread is full of wisdom, thank you. From my experience teacher engagement happens when there is a clearly defined problem which has been agreed upon by the teachers (low test scores, behavior management issues,low social emotional intelligence etc...)  and the garden program is clearly articulated as the solution.

I love the parallels  that can be drawn to a school library.

This is a challenge that gets me fired up.

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[Dawn @ Sage Garden Project]

Greg, 

BRAVO for opening this topic and pushing this agenda! This is where we live! Our focus, exactly. As you know, our organization is one of the few that funds educators/staff and not just "stuff."

We have also worked with District levels to bring a garden educator into the maintenance department, but to no avail...yet.

Are you acquainted with Nick Anicich, now at the CDFA? Nicholas...@cdfa.ca.gov

Alice Waters was highly motivated at one time to stage an event, such as a pop-up luncheon/demonstration on the national mall - but her focus at the time was more toward providing school lunch to all students at no charge (another worthy goal!)

We look forward to staying involved - keep us in the loop!

Dawn Mayeda

Program Director

Sage Garden Project

da...@sagegardenproject.org

[Whitney Cohen]

Hi All,

Greg, thank you so much for raising this on this forum. I couldn’t agree more that going for “library status” instead of chasing soft money sounds like the most ideal and strategic way to secure the future of the garden education movement and equity of access to gardens for all children. 

The SGSO Network’s Best Practices Document on Sustaining School Garden Programs highlights many different models of funding gardens. On there you can find some links to examples of district-funded (Boston/Cambridge) and tax-funded programs, including links describing the soda tax funding in DC and Berkeley, and also the parcel tax funding in Santa Cruz, CA. 

I hope that’s helpful, and am delighted to be part of this conversation!

Best,

Whitney

Whitney Cohen (prounoun: she)

Education Director, Life Lab

educ...@lifelab.org

831-459-2001

See how we’re changing the nature of education!

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[Pamela Flory]

I've . always thought . about . the idea of connecting the school . gardens to . the food service contract.  There . is a . direct connection and . most of . these . companies . now . have . Sustainability . and Wellness . coordinators . so . why . not contributing to . a . garden coordinator position....Pam . 

Please excuse the formatting.   My keyboard needs repair.

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Pam Flory

609 480-8902

Garden Coordinator and Educator

Princeton Day School

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[Greg Ellis]

Thanks for all the great feedback, everyone!  I'll be reaching out individually as I'd like to talk more about the idea of a CA (for now) School Garden Coalition that can further dedicated funding streams from the state budget and ways to support more dedicated local funding.  I'll post an update in a couple of months as I do more research.

Greg

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